John Ezekiel Godfrey (1854 - 1944)

Born 10 Mar 1854 in Wychbold, Stoke Prior, Worcestershire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Lydia (Gover) Godfrey — married 24 Nov 1873 in Clarkston, Cache, Utah, United States

Husband of Eliza Jane (Heward) Godfrey — married 9 Nov 1925 in Cache, Utah

Descendants

Died 19 Mar 1944 at age 90 in Cache, Utah, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Angela Harris [send private message]

Biography

This biography was auto-generated by a GEDCOM import. It's a rough draft and needs to be edited.

A the age of six I went to school for a short time, and at age seven I worked in a needle factory for two shillings per week. One day my employer became angry and slapped me. I jumped from a nearby window, which happened to be on the third floor of the building. I landed on a pile of sawdust that no doubt saved my life. I scampered up and ran all the way home, sobbing out the story to my mother. I was never allowed to return to that factory. Soon after this, I worked for a man who was plowing. The horses did not harness as they do today, but were hitched one ahead of the other; and it was my job to whip them to keep them going. If this was not done exactly to the man's liking, he would slap me down and plow me under. Sometimes I would be completely buried in the furrow and had to dig out.

My father and mother joined the church several years before my birth, and my father held the office of Presiding Elder in the branch until the time of the family's departure for America. My older brother George, immigrated to Utah in 1861, a year before the rest of the family.

The sprin of 1862 the family had saved enough to bring us to Zion, so on May 3 we took passage on the sailboat William Tapscott. We were seven weeks on the water. The ship has 24 sailors, sixteen white men and eight Negroes. During the crossing one the men passengers died and was buried at sea.His body was wrapped in a blanket and put into a water proof bag, strapped to a plank, and lowered into the water feet first. One of the Negro sailors held me on his shoulders so I could watch.

We landed in New York, then went to St. Louis [by rail], then went up the Missouri River 500 (hundred) miles in a steamboat to Florence, Nebraska, now known as Winter Quarters. Then started to Utah. We crossed the plains in the Henry Miller Company with ox teams one (1000) thousand miles to Salt Lake City. I walked most of the way. Six hundred sixty-five persons with on hundred wagons. each drawn by four oxen, where in this company. Each night six men guarded the oxen, to prevent Indians fro stampeding them. We would watch the cattle until the night herders had their supper, and then they would ride around the cattle all night and watch closely for Indians. At time the Indians would sneak into the herd, stampede and scatter them; then they could steal the scattered cattle. But we had very little trouble with the Indians in our company.

We always made a long drive from one watering place to another, never stopping for dinner. We averaged about 15 miles a day. If there was no feed for the cattle around the watering hole where we stopped, we would water them all and then drive on about three miles to prairie grass and make a dry camp. The men would carry water to camp, and the women would gather buffalo chips. Their aprons were large and gathered around the waist, and some could carry two tubs full of buffalo chips in them.

When we came to rivers, they were generally swollen and the bridges washed away. We either stopped for two or three days to make a bridge, or forded the stream. If the river wasn't too high the men would carry the woman across on their back, or they would ride in the wagons. The men waded or swam across.

When we were traveling along the Platte River, great herds of buffalo would come to water. We would have to make an opening between the wagons about two blocks long to let them pass.

During our trip two members died, and we buried them without any coffin. One day we passed an Indian buried in a tree. The Indians had broke off the small limbs in the top of a tree and laid them over the large limbs. Then wove twigs in and out until they had made a bed. Then they wrapped the Indian in a blanket or buffalo robe and laid him on the bed. They killed his horse and put it with his bow and arrow, cooking utensils, and tomahawk at the bottom of the tree. Our captain forbid us taking any of these things left by the Indians.

We arrived in Salt Lake Valley October 10, 1862, in a terrible storm, hungry, ragged, and tired, but glad to be there, five long months after leaving our home. Some of the people had acquaintances there and others didn't have anyone. My oldest brother, George who had preceded us a year earlier, welcomed us. He had a nice one-room house ready for us, located in the tenth ward, where we lived that winter.

Shortly after our arrival, Adam Strong, a counselor to Bishop Pettigrew of the Tenth ward, baptized me. In the fall of that year, I went to school in tenth ward in Salt Lake City. I attended school for a few months that winter. We were there about a month before General Conner came with his Army to Fort Douglas.

In the year of 1863 in January Colonel Conner went with his army to Cache Valley to fight Bear Hunter and this tribe of Indians, North of Preston on Bear River known as Battle Creek, Idaho. They forded Bear River and had their Battle and won the battle. There were many of the Indians and also the army [that] was killed and wounded and many were badly frozen before they reached Salt Lake City. This happened before I moved to Cache Valley.

In the spring of 1863 I was then nine years old. My father and mother and family moved to Chalk Creek east of Weber River [near Coalville]. Father rented a farm, we stayed there all summer and I herded sheep and in Sepetmeber the crop was frozen so bad that it was no good. We then moved Cache Valley to Wellsville and only stayed there about two months and then moved to Mendon and lived there that winter in a big cellar, that was the year of 1864.

Early in the spring of that year there was a man killed by a bear just east of Mendon on the little Bear River. He went to get some pitchfork handles from the Hawbushes, him and his son-in-law Bishop Andrew Shumway. The snow was quite deep, the bear had two large cubs, she was a large grizzly bear. The town all turned out and killed the bear and cubs.

In the spring I herded sheep with other boys of Mendon. While we were living in Mendon, I had quite an experience. The young boys (I was ten years old) would take our herds of sheep in the hills and herd them during the day. One day there was a band of Indians camped by a creek up where we were herding. The Indian boys came up and started throwing mud dobs [sic] at us, so we threw rocks back at them. We hit one of the boys and hurt him quite bad, and he ran back to camp crying. Later we saw an older boy leave camp and circle our around us. He was Carrying a big sinew backed bow and spiked [poison] arrow. Then he started shooting at us, so we left our sheep and started running for town as fast as we could, but one of he arrows hit me and went through the right side of my blouse. It didn't hurt me, but it certainly scared me. (I kept the arrow for many years). Later our fathers went up to the Indians and talked to them about it, but they didn't care. They wouldn't have cared if he had killed me.

In the year of 1865 there cam two companies of soldiers and camped near our home. They were going into Idaho to fight the Indians. My father sold vegetables to them amounting to $40 in gold. Father bought my first riding bridle off of them.

The Winder of 1865 and 1866 I went to school in Clarkston.

The first person that died in Clarkston was Sister [Penelope] Thompson on Dec. 9, 1865.

The early spring of 1866 I went to work for my Uncle Samuel Perkins in Wellsville about three months. Then came back to Clarkston. That summer most of the Clarkston people had to move to Smithfield on account of the Indians. My sister Emma and I were the only children here for six weeks that summer. The people all moved back for winter. During the time of the move my brother Joe was drowned in the slues [sloughs] this side of Bear River.

During that summer an Indian was killed in Mendon [for trying to steal horses], which caused more trouble for the Saints. In order to peacefully settle the difficulty the Saints paid [gave] the Indians forty, seamless sacks (120 lbs. each) of flour and a number of beef cattle. President Brigham Young came to Logan that fall to attend a conference. He said the man that killed the Indian shed innocent blood, and prophesied that the man who killed the Indian would wither, and by that sign the people would know he was the guilty man. I lived to see that prophecy fulfilled for I knew the man well.

That same summer Brother Thurston was building the gristmill, when his little girl disappeared (stole by and Indian) and they never got her back again. But found out that the Indians had got [sic--taken] her.

The nearest store to Clarkston was at Hampton Bridge on Bear River in Box Elder County (over the mountain ten miles ) form Clarkston.

Two men went to the store in winter a foot to get some things and was nearly frozen to death coming home over the mountain. Two men on horses and rescued them. Their names were James Myler and David Cook.

In the year of 1867 we hauled logs to Mendon to build a Grist Mill and while going up, the Collinston Divide I was run over with the load of logs and was crippled up for a long time, and had to go with crutches.

The first bishop in Clarkston was Israel J. Clark. The first church house was built of logs, it was used for school and dances and all amusements. I used to go with Father to Logan to conference and drove a mule team by way of Collinston for there was no Bridge on Bear River only there by Mendon and Wellsville to Logan. I seen President Young and heard him preach many times and heard some of the twelve apostles.

Father hired me out to a man to drive three yoke of oxen plowing (land) for one week for a handsaw.

When 15 years old I went to Weston, Idaho with an ox team to get a grist and it took me away in [to] the night and on my way back the Indians were having a war dance. The first I had ever seen. They scared my oxen and me also. They had a big fire and was dancing around it.

When 16 years old I mowed hay with one of the first mowing machines in Clarkston at that time. In the fall before I was 17 years old I went with my two brothers and other men with a load of freight up to the borderline of Mountain Home, Idaho. Idaho was a wild county at that time. No settler [settlements] in Snake River Valley and only Indians and the soldiers at old Fort Hill. While camped on Camas Creek we had four horses stolen by a horse thief. It took two days to find our horses, and on this trip I drove the lead team all the time. After returning home I got the winter's wood. After New years' I went to Cottonwood Canyon and worked in the first mines in Utah, for a few days. Then the boss put me to driving team hauling ore, which was very dangerous on the count of snow slides. I remember seeing eleven teams buried in a snow slide and two men. I came home in the spring and Father had me run his farm, and gave me one-third of he crop. When they built the railroad from Brigham City to the Cache Valley I worked with other men form Clarkston on that railroad over the Collinston Divide.

That fall I started to keep company with Lydia Gover. We kept company for three years, before we were married. We were married on the 24th day of November 1873.

Our first house was a log house with a dirt roof. I had a pair of small horses, two cows and four head of young stock and 16 head of sheep. In the spring of 1874 Thomas Griffin and I herded cattle and horses, for two years up on the north range from Clarkston about fifteen hundred head of cattle and horses. I has a family of nine children, seven boys and two girls. They all lived to be grownup.

I helped to build the railroad through Battle Creek with a company of men from Clarkston. We plowed up some of the skeletons of the Indians that was buried there in the battle grounds.

I live to see a monument put up on Battle Field [located near Red Rock on top of a high hill with steps]. I went to the Dedication of it in 1932. We heard some wonderful history of those early days, and seen some of the Indians that their grandparents were killed on this grounds and buried. There was about 5000 people there that day.

The summer I was twenty-five years old, I helped build the railroad through Snake River valley into Montana. There was Tom Griffin, John and James Thompson, and Almey Goody.

I was at Idaho Falls the night the first engine crossed the snake Rover on the Bridge.

I was [among] the first man that raised dry land wheat, not having any watered land to farm I raised 90 bushel the first year, and [sic--from] then on people started to dry farm.

My home was [one of] the first in town that had hot and cold water in it.

In may 17, 1899 I was called on a mission to the Southern State, and labored in Kentucky for seven months and had to come home on account of sickness. I also sent four of my boys, Elijah, Jessie, Morris, and Louis on a a mission. My wife and I went to Seattle [Washington, 1909] to see the World Fair and met Jesse on his return home from his mission to New Zealand.

The first one of my family who died was Benjamin A. Godfrey on May 23, 1922; nine months later my wife died February 23, 1923. She was sick for many years before her death. (The life history above was adapted from John E. Godfrey's original notebook.) Transcribed by Angela Harris as found in the book "Ancestors and Descendants of Lydia Gover and John Ezekiel Godfrey"

John Ezekiel Godfrey

BIRTH DATE 10 Mar. 1854

DEATH DATE 16 Mar. 1944

GENDER Male

Immigration 18 Oct 1862 : Age 8

United States Census, 1880

Event Place Clarkston, Cache, Utah, United States

John E Godfrey

Age 12 Marital Status Single

Birthplace Utah, United States

Father's Birthplace England

Mother's Birthplace England

HOUSEHOLD ROLE GENDER AGE BIRTHPLACE

Richard Godfrey Self M 45 England

Jane Godfrey Wife F 39 England

Maria J Godfrey Daughter F 13 Utah, United States

William R Godfrey Son M 16 Utah, United States

Thomas Godfrey Son M 14 Utah, United States

John E Godfrey Son M 12 Utah, United States

Joseph A Godfrey Son M 7 Utah, United States

Sarah E Godfrey Daughter F 4 Utah, United States

Agnes N Godfrey Daughter F 1 Utah, United States

"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNSJ-X4L : accessed 10 May 2016), John E Godfrey in household of Richard Godfrey, Clarkston, Cache, Utah, United States; citing enumeration district ED 13, sheet 225B, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1336; FHL microfilm 1,255,336.

United States Census, 1880

Event Place Clarkston, Cache, Utah, United States

HOUSEHOLD ROLE GENDER AGE BIRTHPLACE

John E Godfrey Self M 26 England

Lydia Godfrey Wife F 25 Utah, United States

Sarah A Godfrey Daughter F 5 Utah, United States

John M Godfrey Son M 3 Utah, United States

Henry E Godfrey Son M 1 Utah, United States

"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNSJ-J2N : accessed 10 May 2016), John M Godfrey in household of John E Godfrey, Clarkston, Cache, Utah, United States; citing enumeration district ED 13, sheet 226D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1336; FHL microfilm 1,255,336.

His first wife was Lydia Gover.

Marriage record of John E Godfrey and Eliza J Sainsbury

Name John E Godfrey

Event Date 09 Nov 1925 Event Place Cache, Utah, United States

Father's Name John Godfrey

Mother's Name Mary Pitaway

Spouse's Name Eliza J Sainsbury

Spouse's Father's Name Lehi Heward

Spouse's Mother's Name Susanah Talbart

"Utah, County Marriages, 1887-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X21K-51C : accessed 10 May 2016), John E Godfrey and Eliza J Sainsbury, 1925.

Utah Death Certificates

John E. Godfrey

Event Date 16 Mar 1944 Event Place Clarkston, Cache, Utah, United States

Age 90

Marital Status Married

Father's Name John Godfrey Mother's Name Mary Pittaway

Spouse's Name Eliza Sainsbury

"Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1964", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZ2Y-3B5 : accessed 10 May 2016), John E. Godfrey, 1944.

Sources

• "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNSJ-J26 : 15 July 2017), John E Godfrey, Clarkston, Cache, Utah, United States; citing enumeration district ED 13, sheet 226D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,255,336.

• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XMBM-YDR : accessed 4 October 2019), John E Godfrey, Clarkston, Cache, Utah, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 22, sheet 13A, family 219, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1602; FHL microfilm 1,375,615.

• "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8PZ-FCH : accessed 4 October 2019), John E Godfrey, Clarkston, Cache, Utah, United States; citing ED 19, sheet 10B, line 77, family 178, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 1861; FHL microfilm 1,821,861.

• "Utah, County Marriages, 1887-1940", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X21K-51C : 4 August 2017), John E Godfrey and Eliza J Sainsbury, 1925.

• "United States Western States Marriage Index", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZNG-6XJ : 19 October 2018), John Ezekiel Godfrey and Eliza Jane Howard Sainsbruy, 1925.

• "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH67-J53 : accessed 4 October 2019), John E Godfrey, Clarkston, Cache, Utah, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 3, sheet 4B, line 51, family 68, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 2414; FHL microfilm 2,342,148.

• "Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1964," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZ2Y-3B5 : 11 September 2015), John E. Godfrey, 16 Mar 1944; citing Clarkston, Cache, Utah, United States, certificate 51, series 81448; Utah State Archives Research Center, Salt Lake City, Utah; FHL microfilm.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Gary Cobb for creating WikiTree profile Godfrey-1331 through the import of wikitree1.ged on May 28, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Gary and others.

• www.1820settlers.com

[McArthur-306 : Ian McArthur - 10 May 2016]